Silver Tears On Golden Lashes
by LoveAnimeForever
Summary: INCOMPLETE - AU - SephirothxJenova,CloudxTifa,VincentxYuffie,ZackxAeris - The elders said there was a memorial in the forests of Wutai, erected in honour of four warriors who sacrificed themselves in vanquishing the Demon forever. They were wrong.
1. Prologue: Origins

**Silver Tears On Golden Lashes**

_Prologue: Origins_

By LoveAnimeForever

* * *

Deep in the forests of Wutai, where no one – _no one_ – ever ventured, there was a clearing. It was perfectly circular, and had four stone pedestals on its border, one in each cardinal direction, facing inwards. In the centre, was a square metal plate drilled into the ground, blank but radiating a malevolent aura.

Sephiroth had been standing quietly by the northern pedestal for some time now – wincing every now and then – a Cure Orb in hand as he healed various (what others would term "grave") wounds he'd sustained from the fight just five minutes ago. That done, he kept his gaze resolutely pinned to the metal plate, as if watching the malice permeating the air, while waiting for his comrades to heal themselves too. Finally, he sighed and stepped onto the pedestal. There would be no more stalling; the Demon they had just bound would not allow flimsy metal to keep her in much longer.

Opposite him, Vincent Valentine followed suit and stepped onto the southern pedestal. Cloud Strife and Zack Fair stepped onto their pedestals as well, the raven-haired man with his back to the setting sun and the blond across from him. So this was how it would end. The four greatest warriors of all time, sacrificing themselves to save the world… It didn't rest easy with any of them, especially because of the countless clichés that surrounded the whole idea, but the Demon had to be sealed away – at least, for now.

Sephiroth bowed his head and prayed to the Mother, the Planet. _Save us, Mother. Protect our loved ones from the Demon, even as we offer our lives in exchange._ Around him, the three friends that he had come to feel for as brothers bent their heads in prayer as well.

A green mist that they knew belonged to the Mother swirled up around them, surrounding the clearing. It spun around them, like a whirlwind, and as it spun, the four felt their legs stiffen. None dared to look down, but all knew what was happening – the frightening image of a man already half-statue filled their minds. But it had to be done. If it was any consolation, the malicious aura they faced was already dissipating, and there was no pain as their bodies turned to stone.

* * *

When the four warriors were no more but statues, the green vortex slowed down and morphed into tendrils, caressing the metal plate on the ground and the fronts of the pedestals. Their touch was sharper than it seemed – when they finally faded away, there were words carved where they had drifted. The metal plate shone for one last time, and then it was just a normal plaque, flush against the ground.

* * *

Deep in the forests of Wutai, where no one – _no one_ – ever ventured, there was a clearing, or so the elders said. And bordering the clearing – if it even existed – were the statues of four great warriors of times past. It was said, that they had given up their lives to destroy a – _the_ – Demon once and for all, and the elders said that the statues had been erected in memory of their courageous deed.

They were wrong.

* * *

Author's Note: I realise the terms used in this chapter are not mentioned anywhere in the FF VII Universe. Bear with it; everything returns to normal starting Chapter One. I use these terms here because it's supposed to be "medieval" Gaia. Thanks.


	2. Chapter 01: Godo's Dream

**Silver Tears On Golden Lashes**

_Chapter One: Godo's Dream_

By LoveAnimeForever

* * *

The country of Wutai – a village though it had a continent to itself – had three princesses. One was royal by blood, the other two by adoption. The eldest had been a ragtag kid in the slums of faraway Midgar, and because of her rough childhood, Tifa was a good fighter, as well as streetsmart. The middle child, Aeris, was of the sweetest and gentlest disposition, despite recurring nightmares of her mother's death. Godo – the closest Wutai would ever come to a King – had found them through Leviathan. The Water God had haunted him with visions of the run-down city and blurred faces until he gave in, and headed for Midgar. Once there, everything had fallen into place, like fate, and Godo had come home with two more daughters.

Of course, he had his own blood daughter – coincidentally the least fit to rule the village – Yuffie, the youngest child. Sometimes Godo wondered if she'd been born with an attention disorder, or perhaps a hearing disorder, since she liked to be so loud all the time. All the same, Yuffie was too bubbly to be hated, and all three sisters were well-liked by all the Wutaians. Godo held a gruff sort of pride for them, and rather dreaded the day he would have to pick one of them to be his heir.

But then, there were _other_ problems to worry about…

* * *

It was night. Godo sat by open paper doors, facing a garden with trees and pond, complete with a gentle breeze waltzing past. But he wasn't paying attention to it; he looked, instead, skyward, to the stars that shone so clearly, so knowingly, over Wutai. They knew something he didn't, surely. And they would know what to do with the dream that just woke him in the middle of the night…

* * *

_Leviathan's shrine, in one of the caves bored deep into the mountains behind Wutai, was not at all what you would expect of the Water God. There were fires surrounding the altar – fierce, savage fires that never went out. It was a show of his power – that he was strong enough to use an _opposing_ element for his own purposes – and they could only be put out by one thing. Godo held out the Leviathan Scale that he wore around his neck, and the flames receded to the walls, remaining only to provide light. Now, he was face-to-face with the Sea Serpent himself – a long body of reflective aquamarine and eyes crimson as the flames that surrounded his altar._

"_My Heir, time is short. Your children have remembered for you for many a past year; it is time you remembered as well."_

_Godo found himself suddenly outside the cave, in harsh daylight so different from the flickering firelight of Leviathan's Shrine. He was in one of the village squares, where the children liked to play. There was a small group of girls skipping rope, the ropes moving with the rhythm of a nursery rhyme they were reciting._

_Silver tears on golden lashes_

_And blood-red rain on silver hair_

_Sun, dark like the deepest night_

_And shadows pale as day_

_Do not taint this memorial with_

_Tears of salt or blood of flesh_

_Nor light, for it scalds the eyes_

_Nor dark, for it blinds them_

_It was rather morbid for a nursery rhyme. Godo wondered why they even let the children continue with it. Before his thoughts went very far, more children joined the original group, bringing balls, yo-yos, toy swords, and they all recited the same rhyme, until it overlapped, grew too loud, and Godo couldn't stand it, because there was something _there _that he was supposed to understand, but he just _couldn't_… The children swarmed up to him then, and tugged at his robes._

"_Godo-san, Godo-san, what does it mean?"_

"_What is silver? What is gold?"_

"_How can the sun be dark? How can shadows be pale?"_

"_Godo-san, what memorial?"_

_More and more children surrounded him, and their questions pressed in on his mind, but the answers they sought were just out of reach. Just.. out.. of.._

_Suddenly, there were no children, and there was no village, only endless forest. Godo stepped cautiously forward. He was met by a clearing, by some strange coincidence perfectly circular. It had four guardians, one each at the four points of the compass. Without looking, Godo found himself knowing that there was a plate on the ground, and it – along with the statues – was engraved with the song the children so loved to sing._

_The wall broke. Words passed on by his parents he had forgotten over time came rushing back on him. But that meant only one thing, and Godo didn't want to do it._

_Leviathan whisked him back to the Shrine, and said, "You know what to do, my Heir. This is no longer a mere passing-on of wisdom. The seal will not hold much longer. If we move first, we will have the upper hand."_

_And then the flames closed back in, shrouding Leviathan in impenetrable heat and light, and Godo woke up.

* * *

_

Godo, Heir of Leviathan, and the closest the warrior people of Wutai would ever come to a King, was more than stumped. He was afraid.

And it wasn't for himself.


	3. Chapter 02: The Demon Awakens

**Silver Tears On Golden Lashes**

_Chapter Two: The Demon Awakens_

By LoveAnimeForever

* * *

It was a year since he'd had the dream. Who to tell? Who to trust? Godo knew that all three of his daughters would have a hand in this – this prophecy – this fate… But which would take it best? Mature Tifa? Calm Aeris? Definitely not Yuffie… No, none of them… Not yet, not yet. The time was not yet right… Godo's thoughts enveloped him in worry, but he tried not to show it to his people, or his children – they couldn't know, not _just_… yet…

* * *

_A little more… Just a little more, and those foolish humans will _pay_… I have been trapped in this darkness for long enough!_

A tendril of black Lifestream pushed its way through the shadows, as it had steadily been for the past hundred years or so. Eventually, it found the metal the bound its Mistress so deep in the earth, and snaked past it, finally finding the light of day. Revenge would be sweet, especially since the four _heroes_ who had bound Her were still stone, thanks to the foolish delays of the Wutaian King.

Deep within the Lifestream, slowly corrupting green strand by green strand and turning it black, Jenova laughed.

* * *

"_There is no more time. No more. If you are my Heir, and if you truly believe in me, and trust me, act _now_. We are already too late."_

_Fires engulfed Godo once more.

* * *

_

Godo shot up from bed, drenched in cold sweat. Muted sunlight and birdsong filtered through the screen doors to his room, and today would have been a good day, except that time was up. He had waited too long. For selfish, selfish, reasons – that might cost the whole of Gaia its life.

He got up, dressed and hastily headed for the breakfast room. If he judged correctly, they should be having their meal now. True enough, when he burst in, they were kneeling around a low table, eating. All were momentarily stunned by his sudden appearance, but regained themselves soon enough.

"Good morning, Father," Aeris greeted. She was echoed by Tifa, and then by Yuffie's slightly less appropriate greeting.

"Mornin', old man!"

Godo didn't have the heart to reprimand her. He sat down at the head of the table – at which point the three girls stopped eating (it was rare for him to join them) – and began speaking, if a little awkwardly.

"Listen to me, daughters… I – I – as a father, as a part of Wutai, and as a part of this world, have failed by not telling you this earlier. Still… It is not too late." Godo paused, thinking of a way to phrase his speech. "…The fable of the four heroes, surely you know it. I don't really know how to make you believe this, considering you've been told otherwise your whole lives, but there _is_ a memorial, and there _are_ four statues guarding it… And…"

"Basically, the myth is true?" Aeris supplied gently, trying to ease her adopted father's uncertainty.

"Yes – no… It is – partially true. There is a Demon in the myth, yes? It was destroyed, once and for all…" Three pairs of confused eyes watched him, as if he'd gone insane. How could he tell them? He had to – Godo took a deep breath and continued. "Well, it wasn't. It still lives, though it is sealed under the memorial. The time is coming when it will break free – it may already have. There is a rhyme the children like to sing, and it is actually a prophecy –"

Just as he was ready to reveal all, wisps of black rose from the floor accompanied by a sinister hissing. They wrapped around him, eventually enfolding his neck in their darkness. Tifa was the first to react. She lunged forward, attempting to get hold of one of the fast thickening vines, but her hands passed straight through them.

"I'll go for help," Yuffie gasped, already getting up and turning for the door.

"No! No – don't you see, he's trying to say something…" Aeris held her adopted sister back, voice strained and soft.

"G-go to Le-via-th-an…" With that, his eyes rolled backwards, showing the whites of his eyes, and he slumped into the corrupted Lifestream.

It held him for a moment, before dissipating back into the floor as if nothing had happened, Godo's now lifeless body hitting the floor unceremoniously. The three princesses of Wutai were frozen, trying to digest the fact that their father was… _Dead_. Tifa eventually gathered the courage to check for a pulse – a redundant action. Yuffie backed away from the corpse of her _blood father_, eyes wide with fright, disbelief – fear, fear, fear.

"G-go – go tell someone, Tifa… I'll try and" – Aeris let out a sob – "calm Yuffie down…"

Tifa nodded, also starting to panic, but tried to maintain what was left of her composure as she fled to the servants' quarters. She and Aeris had always prided themselves on being mature – at least, more so than their youngest sibling – but they weren't even twenty yet, and this just reminded them that they weren't _adults_, couldn't handle things… Things like this. The servants would tell the elders, and the elders would know what to do. They had to.

* * *

The funeral was held the next day. All of Wutai turned up in the village square in black to mourn, white flowers in hand to lay on Godo's coffin. Eulogies were read, and even the fiercest of the warriors had trembling in their voices. And there were rumors of how Godo had died – by the hands of the Demon.


	4. Chapter 03: Leviathan Speaks

**Silver Tears On Golden Lashes**

_Chapter Three: Leviathan Speaks_

By LoveAnimeForever

* * *

It was at the funeral that Aeris remembered what Godo had said. Yuffie, torn by grief and panic – her hyperactivity directed in a depressive direction – had curled up in her room and refused to come out accept for the ceremony; Tifa, the eldest and most trusted by the people, had to greet the villagers and manage the proceedings. Aeris ran between the two, and – understandably – all three, in their different occupations, forgot about their father's last words.

And then, standing between her sisters before the coffin, she couldn't tear her eyes from the ornate Leviathan carving on the altar the coffin was before. Its red-painted eyes flamed, and its body seemed to come alive. Aeris had always been more in tune with the spirits, and it hit her, so hard and so suddenly she nearly cried out. She turned to her right – Tifa had the same look of epiphany on her face. To her left, Yuffie was equally startled, but there was a look of _special_ understanding never before seen on her face.

Aeris had always been the one more in touch with the spirits and nature, so why…?

* * *

Later, after the burial – during which the Leviathan carving had thankfully spared them to mourn in peace – Yuffie, unusually solemn, gathered her sisters.

"Now that the old man is dead… I am Leviathan's Heir. He – he's been talking to me; I don't know if you can hear him too – he says only I can hear him clearly… We have to go to the shrine. He said that Gaia depends on it."

"Well, there's nothing else we can do, then, is there?"

Though Tifa had said it, she seemed the most reluctant to head for the shrine. The people of the village were without a leader – was this the time to be going on a water-serpent-chase after a myth? She should be learning to take her father's stead…

Aeris placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Father wanted us to go. The village has taken care of itself for so long, Father has barely needed to do anything; surely it can hold its own for a while longer?"

The three glanced at each other, nodded in determination.

* * *

That evening, they climbed the mountains behind the village, up long, narrow staircases carved into the rock, though thankfully none were steep nor particularly treacherous. The moon was already high in the night sky when they reached the cave that housed the shrine. Even at the entrance, the heat of the blazing fires within seemed to burn their faces.

Yuffie rested a hand on the two Leviathan Scales on the necklace around her neck. She only had the right to one; the other would go to the man she chose to continue Leviathan's bloodline with. But for now, she would hold on to both. (Her sisters didn't have the Scales, since the blood of Leviathan didn't run in their veins, though it didn't affect how Yuffie viewed them.) She undid the necklace and held it in front of her as she entered the cave. The heat receded as she moved forward, and Tifa and Aeris followed behind.

"Bloodline of Wutai, Heir of Leviathan, child, this is the first time I speak with you. Welcome, then, to Leviathan's Shrine. And may you be as strong and brave as your father."

When the last of the flames cleared away, the aquatic serpent that was Leviathan's manifestation faded into being and addressed Yuffie. He then swept his great head to greet Tifa and Aeris.

"Your sisters, as well."

The three were stunned speechless. Leviathan's chuckle rumbled through the cavern walls, causing a few rocks to loose themselves from the ceiling and fall to the ground, though harmlessly missing the girls. He waited patiently, red eyes gleaming with amusement and wisdom as he examined them to pass the time.

Eventually, Yuffie spoke. "Leviathan," her voice irreverently loud, "what was the old man tryin' to say?"

"Patience, child. And perhaps a little more respect. Nonetheless, I will tell you what your father could not. What you, as humans, have simultaneously supported and contradicted and therefore decided was total myth, is true. These are the forests of Wutai," – water swirled from Leviathan's main body, forming a map – "and this is what your elders call the memorial of the four heroes of old."

His tail pointed to an area in one of the inner forests, where even Wutaians simply didn't go.

"What about this place?" Tifa asked. "Both you and father have been saying the myth is actually true, and yet you seem to imply that there's something the elders got wrong."

"The four statues, they are not _memorials_ of the heroes' _deaths_; they _are_ the heroes. It is hard to believe, I know, children. But go, anyway, if only for your father. There will be a plaque, as the myth says, and the inscription on it will instruct you. Although, you should already know the inscription."

"The rhyme," Aeris whispered, eyes alight with adrenalin.

"It is not complete, the one that you know. Nor is it complete, that was inscribed. It is a prophecy as old as Gaia, but you must find the rest of it yourselves. Go. Time is short, the Demon awakens."

"_Demon?_ You didn't say anything about-!"

"Your father spoke of her, child. Do not let fear rule you. You are the Heir of Leviathan. Through me, and through Gaia itself, the Mother is with you, as with you, child of gentleness and child of strength. _Go_."

The serpent faded, his last word – command – echoing in the cavern. The map of water morphed into one of paper, and Tifa picked it up.

"Let's go, I suppose."

Aeris smiled at Tifa's determined face, but gestured to Yuffie. Said youngest sister was melancholy, thinking harder than she normally ever did or would. _Fear. Prophecy. Gaia. Mother. Leviathan. Why…_

"Why us, Aeris? Why? Tifa?"

Her elder sisters slung their arms around her shoulders reassuringly.

"There is no 'why', Yuffie. Let's go home. We'll need rest, if we're setting out tomorrow." 


End file.
